FAQs for mentors
What is the onboarding process for mentors?
Answer: Mentors will be contacted by email about their participation. They will be required to provide a 1-2 sentence description and their bio for the launch article. Once the launch article is posted, mentors should focus on their project's creative brief. Mentors can either (1) write the brief themselves, (2) have the committee write a brief for them, (3) use a pre-written committee brief, or (4) use a brief that they had written in a previous round if they are a returning mentor.
What should mentors cover in the first meeting with the mentees?
Answer: The primary focus of the meeting should be on going through the creative brief. Ensure you are aligned on the following: how you would like to communicate as a team, who is responsible for which tasks, the milestones, and when you plan to meet in the upcoming weeks. You should also decide who will be the Design Leader (the Associate RGD/Student RGD in their final years) of your team.
How should I contact my mentees?
Answer: That is up to you as the mentor. Some mentors prefer to use email only, while others use platforms like Slack or Discord. For file sharing, mentors and mentees have always used Google Drive. You should discuss this with your team during the first meeting to make sure everyone is aligned.
No one indicated on their application that they wanted to be Design Leader. What do I do?
Answer: You can either lead the team yourself as a mentor or discuss the roles with your team during the first meeting to see whether any of your mentees are interested in taking up the position at that stage.
What do I do if one or more of my mentees isn’t attending meetings/doing the tasks assigned to them/meeting deadlines?
Answer: You should contact the lead of the RGD Project-Based Mentorship Program, Rupsha Mutsuddi, Associate RGD (rupshamutsuddi@gmail.com). A last-chance email would be sent with a fixed deadline by which the mentee must respond. If they do not respond, it will be assumed that they are no longer interested in continuing. The mentee’s tasks should be redistributed to other team members.
Can I have my mentees work on a real project for an actual client?
Answer: No, the mentorship program is a portfolio-building program. Since mentees are not compensated for their time or creative capital, it would be considered Spec Work (please see the RGD’s policy on Spec Work here). You may re-use a related concept to client work you’ve done in the past to inform your brief (i.e. if you did branding for a Jazz festival, maybe your brief is about branding for a Film Festival instead). We also allow the inclusion of some not-for-profit clients but this will be reviewed by the committee on a case-by-case basis.
Which year of students are you planning to recruit for this program? This will help me gauge their skill set when I set up the parameters for the project.
Answer: Open to all students; however, preference will be given to students in their final year of study.
Will the RGD promote the final product in a blog or article upon completion of the program?
Answer: Yes! There will be a feature in the RGD newsletter (sent to over 20k subscribers) and on the RGD website. Mentors also receive social media graphics to promote their participation in the program.
How do you evaluate success for the Student RGD Members and Associate RGD Members upon completing the program?
Answer: Exposure to other design disciplines, being able to articulate and speak about design decisions and professional development. Student RGD members and Associate RGD members also get to practice their presentation skills by participating in Project Review Nights
Is there a range of hours I should tell the students they need to commit to the program?
Answer: It is recommended that mentees contribute a minimum of 3 hours a week (however, they can choose to contribute more).
I'm no longer a specialist in this area. Can I do a project with students in my new area of focus instead?
Answer: Yes, absolutely! The briefs are mentor-driven, so we'd be happy to accommodate you.
Could you give me a realistic estimate on how much time you think a Mentor would need to devote for such a program? Weekly? Monthly?
Answer: We require mentors to put aside at least 1 hour a week (at a minimum) to coordinate with their mentees and give feedback on their progress.
I'm based in Vancouver, would the emerging designers and Associate RGD be based in Ontario? The time zone is a factor even though it's up to the groups to decide when to meet. When do you imagine meetings taking place? Evenings? Weekends?
Answer: Mentees are given the Mentor’s timezone when they apply. They are encouraged to select a mentor in a timezone where meetings are feasible. If it’s not feasible, mentees may participate asynchronously, but it is their responsibility to communicate clearly with their mentor and remain engaged with their team.
What is a recommended timeline?
This is only an overview. Please feel free to customize with your mentees as you need:
Week 1-2: Intro to the Project Discuss Expectations and Consider Conceptual Directions
Week 3-4: Initial Round of Concepts, Sketching And/Or Research
Week 5: Select Overall Design Direction
Week 4-7: Design and production of first iteration of deliverables
Week 7: Share the work with Team for Refinements
Week 7-12: Finalize design
Week 12: Pitch final design concept to Client
